Pool & Tennis Report – September 2019

I’m delighted about this year’s swim and tennis season and I hope you are too. I know many memories were made in the pool and on the courts and I’m reminded how grateful I am to have these assets in this community.

TENNIS: We had a full summer on the courts. Many weeks in the junior program were full. I received lots of positive feedback about the classes and the coaching staff. Our JV and Varsity teams grew and we even beat our rival, Klahaya for . . . . perhaps the first time? The adult classes remain very popular and are continuing into the fall.

POOL: Swim Lessons have come to close and were a huge success. While I don’t have final numbers, I believe we had a record year for revenue earned from lessons and many happy kids and parents.We had an amazing staff of Lifeguards this summer and I hope to see many of them back next year. I’d like to take a moment to thank LUKE ILGENFRITZ for his 7 years of service to the pool. His “Blue Ridge Pool Career” is coming to a close as he enters his senior year of college. Luke has set up the pool up for success and will be truly missed! Please make sure to read Luke’s bulletin section for additional pool details.Swim Team was a lot of fun this year. We had 159 swimmers and nearly a third of them were in the 8 & under group. I truly believe that in just a few years, we will be winning all our meets! We upped our home meet concessions game this summer and I think everyone enjoyed the Burns’ pulled pork sandwiches. If not, here’s hoping they do it again next year for you to try!

Rachel Douglas and Esther Kim teamed up to make exceptional swim team coordinators. Jane Caron and Kristi Dwight were back again volunteering as Clerk of Course at all home meets.We had an emotional send off for our graduating seniors, some of whom have 14 years on our swim team!

As you have probably heard, this was COACH CARLOS’ last year with us. He has dedicated 14 summers to helping our children learn to compete and gain confidence in the pool. His departure, due to his move to Burien, will leave a huge hole in our hearts. On behalf of Carlos, I’d like to thank everyone who donated to a special goodbye gift for Carlos. Many families who have not had swimmers in many years donated, and Carlos was blown away by our generosity. Once again, our community coming together for a purpose is an amazing place to experience.

Coach Glen has agreed to take over as head coach next year and I have hired a new assistant coach from Cascade, name Becky Woodruff, to add to our amazing coaching team.

All City: I’d like to thank the entire community for dealing with, and helping out at, the big All City swim meet. I believe it went off without a hitch and there are about 1200 people who were incredibly impressed with our neighborhood and hospitality. We really put on a good show! While I don’t have the full financial picture yet, I do believe we actually managed to make a little money too. I was, once again, amazed by how this community comes together. The committee who put on this event felt supported and was pleased with the full neighborhood volunteer effort.

I need to take a moment to thank the All City committee who collectively spent thousands of hours planning this event. We began our adventure nearly 2 years ago, put our heart and soul into it and knocked it out of the park. Committee is pictured below, after a 14 hour work day, celebrating our success. Luckily, we are not on the hook for another one of these for many years and my shift will be over. HA!!

In conclusion, it’s been a perfect summer. I have just a few more changes in store that I will share in my final season report next month. As always, I’m available for feedback.Off to complete some school supply shopping . . . .

From Luke-“Hi everyone! The summer is winding down, but there is still time to enjoy some summer sun! The last day we are open this summer is Sunday, September 15th, so make the most of it. Starting Wednesday, September 4th, weekday open swim will be from 4-7pm, but the weekend schedule will stay the same! Please note that on Monday, September 2nd we have a Saturday schedule for Labor Day. This means lap swim is from 7-12pm and open swim from 12-7pm.This has been an amazing final summer working at Blue Ridge and I’m excited to announce our management staff for next year. The Pool Manager will be Drew Brennan and the Swim Lessons Coordinator is Emily Cary! Congratulations to both, they’ve worked very hard to earn these positions and I can’t wait to see them in action! Thank you again to everyone for making Blue Ridge home these past 7 years.”Luke